Reggie: 2DS is for five and six-year-olds

Recently Nintendo unveiled its most bizarre creations yet, the Nintendo 2DS, to much public negativity. However Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has cleared up in a recent interview with IGN that the devolution of the Nintendo 3DS into the Nintendo 2DS has a very specific reason and target market:

Recently Nintendo unveiled its most bizarre creation yet, the Nintendo 2DS, to much public negativity. However Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has cleared up in a recent interview with IGN that the devolution of the Nintendo 3DS into the Nintendo 2DS has a very specific reason and target market:

“We’re always thinking about what we can do that’s new, unique, different, and brings more people into this category that we love,” Fils-Aime said. “And so with the Nintendo 3DS, we were clear to parents that, ‘hey, we recommend that your children be seven and older to utilize this device.’ So clearly that creates an opportunity for five-year-olds, six-year-olds, that first-time handheld gaming consumer."

"How do we approach that as one target? How do we get more people playing Nintendo games," Fils-Aime asked rhetorically. "That helped spur the idea of the 2DS. Let's have the consumer have access to all of these great games at a dramatically lower price point," he continued.

So it's not a completely crazy idea when you think of it and I honestly can't think of a better console for younger kids to start with, especially with games like Pokémon X and Y just around the corner from the Nintendo 2DS' planned launch in October.

It has also been confirmed that everything down to the Nintendo 3DS' internet functionality will be present on the Nintendo 2DS. So unless you really hate not being able to close the portable console, I'm starting to find it hard to justify negativity towards this console thanks to Reggie's reasoning and the incredibly enticing price point.